Listening and speaking skills in secondary English curriculum

Rasel Mahmud Sajal English is considered as the global language but we are far away from fulfilling our target to be able to communicate in that language. As a developing country, we are not aware enough to realise the truth that without English we cannot have a position in the global village. Language skill means four basic skills of language such as listening, speaking, reading and writing but only two skills, reading and writing, are emphasised in assessment. Our neighbouring countries like India and Sri Lanka's students are more advanced in English which has given them the opportunity to work in national and international arena having better negotiation skills. In our country, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) was introduced in our secondary English Curriculum in 1996. CLT attaches importance to all the four basic skills of a language. If we want to achieve the goal of CLT, which is obviously better communication skill, we should attach equal importance to the four basic skills of English language but in our country, speaking and listening skills have not got enough importance in schools. Reading and writing skills are given more importance where speaking and listening skills are ignored in most cases. Curriculum keeps provisions to test the reading and writing skills only, therefore, teachers and students do not feel it is important to put emphasis on speaking and listening skills as curriculum has not compelled them; and the teachers did not get scope to assess listening and speaking skills although only teaching reading and writing skills can never make our students proficient in oral English. The present government has taken some notable decisions to improve the education sector as they have understood that without developing education sector it is difficult to achieve the Digital Bangladesh and vision 2021. Besides, ignoring English, our future generation will not be able to go far in the global village where English is a lingua franca. For the first time, the government has allotted 10 marks for listening and 10 marks for speaking skills along with reading and writing skills for the students of classes six and seven. It is a brave decision by the government, no doubt, but the question is - are the teachers teaching and testing listening and speaking skills in schools? Unfortunately, the answer to the question is a big 'No'. Most teachers and students are not aware of the inclusion of listening and speaking skills in the new curriculum, let alone teaching and assessing listening and speaking skills. Teaching communicative English demands creating English speaking environment in the classrooms as well as in schools but teachers sometimes show lame excuses that if they conduct classes in English, students won't understand the class although the reality is that, teachers themselves have insufficient skills to teach in English. Teachers do not feel comfort to teach speaking and listening skills as they are not skilled enough in English. From my experience, I can say for sure, students can understand the class when teachers teach in English. Additionally, in many cases, a good number of English classes are conducted by the non-English background teachers. In some schools non-English background teachers take classes regularly with favour of the head teachers. Where teachers themselves cannot speak English fluently, how will they teach communicative English to students? In order to improve this situation, teachers need to attend regimented training where they will learn to teach and assess English language skills. Rigorous training may prepare our teachers to face the new challenges of teaching and assessing listening and speaking skills. In this regard, the government Teachers' Training Colleges (TTC) may play a significant role as they are doing excellent jobs through training teachers to implement the national curricula. As a BEd student, I can say, TTCs have got excellent teaching staff having higher education and training both at home and abroad. Skilled English teachers of the college can provide the training in listening and speaking skills if concerned authority gives necessary directions to the TTCs. Besides, the government will have to recruit more skilled English teachers; and along with that concerned authority and the head of the schools have to make sure English is being properly taught by the really skilled teachers. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has no utility if there are no interactions in English. We know that the government has a plan to reduce the student-teacher ratio to 30:1 by 2018 but it is a reality at present that, even a skilled teacher cannot manage a class well with 70/80 or more students. Without individual care, it is so difficult to better help the learners in schools. Government has already provided laptops, speakers and multimedia projectors to the schools which is a commendable step to make the classrooms digital where the teachers can conduct the class with the help of technology. If listening CDs are available, I know that there are some teachers who can play them to help students to practice listening and speaking but the concerned authority has to ensure the maximum use of these computers in the classrooms. It is heard that senior teachers take the laptops to their homes for personal use and thus students are deprived. Alongside ensuring the assessment of listening and speaking skills in classes six and seven, I hope, concerned authority will include marks for listening and speaking in rest of the classes soon for the betterment of the nation. Without proficiency in English, it is not possible to compete in the global village and I hope that if concerned authority takes necessary steps through providing training to the teachers, recruiting English teachers, proper monitoring, increasing classroom facilities, and using ICT in the English classes, the stated scenario of the high school English teaching-learning may rapidly change and our school students will be able to better communicate in English. The writer is an assistant teacher of English, Rajbari Government High School, currently studying BEd at Teachers' Training College, Faridpur, email: [email protected]